Intentional Leadership

When I was ten, my teacher wrote something on my school report which has stayed with me ever since. “Sarah looks after number one before all else”. There was plenty of nice stuff too, but that part stuck. I was selfish and bossy. I knew what I wanted, and bossed everyone else around to make very sure I got it. That stung. I felt ashamed not only of being that way, but that it...

This is a hard post for me to write. Not least because the people involved may read this, and that triggers all sorts of fears for me of what they will think and how they might react. And, one of the things I’m committed to is sharing more of me, being more vulnerable, opening up my heart, and this is also in service of that. So, here goes. I had two bits of news...

I live life at a pretty fast pace. I’ve never been someone who spends my holidays sunbathing on the beach – boredom kicks in after around 5 minutes, quite aside from the fact that being a redhead means I go pink very fast too 🙂 The way I know how to live life is to fill my days, doing lots of different things; being busy has always been a badge of pride, a measure...

Last Sunday was the day of the University Boat Races, between Oxford and Cambridge. Full of tradition, it is a gladiatorial contest rowed over nearly 7km of the Thames, with two eights fighting it out for victory. For many, it is anachronistic and irrelevant, and yet it attracts huge interest, typically with more than 250,000 turning out to watch live from the riverbank, and a global TV and radio audience of several hundred million....

I recently completed my year long Coach Training Programme as part of my journey to being a full time life coach. It has been an extraordinary year, in which I have had some of the biggest highs and lowest lows I can remember. I also have a new set of friends – best friends – who have seen me at my best and worst, and with whom I have forged connections closer than I...

You know the feeling. You’re thinking about trying something new, or taking on something challenging – something you want to do, and yet somehow your mind and body don’t quite co-operate. Your excitement is mixed with fear, trepidation, wondering how it will turn out, not sure whether you’ll be able to do it, afraid it won’t work out. It can manifest as physical sensations, that feeling in the pit of your stomach, or the...

A couple of things have happened to me in the last couple of weeks which have triggered me. Pushed a button I have and didn’t necessarily know I had. Or a button I thought was under control, aaaaand it wasn’t. How do I know? Suddenly I’m overwhelmed with different thoughts, feelings and body sensations which I don’t know what to do with. Anger, fear, guilt, confusion, excitement, uncertainty. My stomach is churning and my...

The right time. When is that exactly? We often put off making big decisions, or changes that feel uncomfortable, because we are waiting for a better time, or the right time. And yet, somehow that right time never arrives – there is always another reason not to do it. That’s because our survival mechanism, the part of us that wants to keep us safe, comfortable and protected, will find something else in the way....

When a friend and colleague was taking a look at her relationship, with a coach, it was highlighted that she was so busy looking for what was not there – what was lacking – that she had forgotten to be present to and thankful for what there was. This got me thinking. I recently returned from two weeks in California, a mixture of some holiday and the continuation of my training with Accomplishment Coaching....

How many of us really love ourselves – wholly and without conditions? Many of us would answer that with a “sometimes” or “yes, except for that bulge in my belly, or my fat thighs, or…”. Or perhaps you answer with a yes, but deep inside you see yourself as a failure every day, or not as happy/slim/successful/fit/wealthy* (delete as appropriate) as you should be, or compared to your friends or colleagues. If so, there...